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Current Affairs
Title : Electoral Bonds: complete analysis in light of SC Decision
Date : Feb 17, 2024
Description :
The Supreme Court of India in recent landmark judgment, has declared the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional and breach of the right to information under fundamental right's Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
The court has also nullified the amendments made to the Companies Act, the Income Tax Act, and the Representation of Peoples Act that validated electoral bonds scheme.
The court also directed the State Bank of India, the scheme management bank, to furnish the details of electoral bonds encashed by the political parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 31, 2024. The Election Commission of India is also directed tol publish such details on its website.
Reasons for declaration of Electoral Bonds as unconstitutional
1- The scheme does not provide the source of investment in electoral bond, which is violation of right to information, a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a).
The scheme also enables black money, foreign funding, and corporate influence in politics, which is in contradiction to the public interest and the sovereignty of the nation.
2- The scheme does not provide a level playing field as it discriminates between different political parties based on their vote share, giving an unfair advantage to the ruling party and the major opposition parties, while excluding the smaller and regional parties.
3- The scheme is against the constitutional aim of transparancy, free and fair elections,curbing corruption and criminalization of politics.
Electoral Bonds: Basic information
Electoral bonds are introduced by the Finance Bill 2017. The scheme allows any individual/entity to purchase electoral bonds from SBI in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 crore and donate them to any registered political party. The Electoral bonds will be available for purchase for 10 days in the month of January, April, July, and October with an additional time-frame of 30 days in the year of General Elections for Lok Sabha. The name of the donor is kept confidential and the bonds are valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue.
The political parties have to create a specific account which is verified by the ECI to receive the electoral bonds.
Only those parties that secured not less than 1% of votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State are eligible to receive electoral bonds.